Carol I

Carol I, 1839–1914, prince (1866–81) and first king (1881–1914) of Romania, of the house of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. He is also called Charles I. A Prussian officer, he was elected to succeed the deposed Alexander John Cuza as prince of Romania. He reformed the Romanian constitution and laid the groundwork for the country's monetary system, military organization, and railroad network. Exploitation of Romanian oil fields began in his reign. Economic development, however, did not improve the lot of the peasants, and an uprising in 1907 was cruelly suppressed. Carol sided with Russia in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 and obtained at the Congress of Berlin (see Berlin, Congress of) full independence for Romania, which he declared a kingdom in 1881. Carol's wife was Princess Elizabeth of Wied. He was succeeded by his nephew Ferdinand.

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Carol I

 orig. Karl Eitel Friedrich, prince von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

(born April 20, 1839, Sigmaringen, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen—died Oct. 10 1914, Sinaia, Rom.) King of Romania (1881–1914). Originally a German prince, he became prince of Romania in 1866, and when Romania gained full independence from the Ottoman Empire he was crowned its first king. He brought notable military and economic development along Western lines, but his neglect of festering rural problems led to the bloody peasant rebellion of 1907.